Why life really does begin at 40

You should count yourselves lucky if you are in your 40s this year.Photo / iStock.

I've been on this planet for 43 years.

Those of us born in the late 1960s and early 1970s are constantly being told that the generation above us - the baby boomers - are the ones who had it good, but I beg to differ. So, in no particular order, here's a list of why being in your 40s in 2015, you should count yourselves lucky:

• The chances are we'll have bought property in the 1990s, when it was dirt cheap. Coupled with the lowest interest rates available since the dawn of banking, we are fortunate enough to be sitting on little goldmines. Meanwhile, the generation below is cursed to be a nation of renters. This, of course, is not our fault.

• Fashion at 40 is better than ever. If I look at my parents' photo albums, what really sticks out is that their generation dressed way too old for their years. When my father was my age, he was always wearing a tie and pair of brown slacks. Today, we have a far wider (and less brown) range of clothes to choose from, which means that we do not have to dress as either lamb or mutton. Now we can dress like David Beckham (current age: 40).

• Our children are no longer toddlers. Remember those years of sterilisers and travel cots? Well, they're well behind us now. Most probably, our children are approaching their teens, and they can wash and clean themselves, and if you're lucky, even cook their own breakfasts. When I look at people in their 30s with young children, I feel awash with pity. Although sometimes I cackle, cruelly.

• We can keep age at bay. We don't have to give into middle age, and a bit of vanity goes a long way. If you keep slim, look after your skin, buy some teeth whitener, trim that nasal and ear hair and slip in some sly Botox, then you'll look younger than those frazzled thirtysomethings with their small children and vast rents (see above).

• We understand the modern world. How many boomers know how to use smartphones properly? About five. But we in our 40s, brought up on the early days of home computers, don't find tech a challenge. We're as nimble on our iPhones as teenagers, and we don't get confused by the remotes for our smart TVs.

• Finally we're starting to be taken seriously. By now, most of us are at least boss of something. People listen to our opinions as we're old enough to be experienced but not so old as to be dismissed as yesterday's men and women.

• We enjoy better health than previous generations. Laugh all you like at middle-aged men in Lycra, but the average 40-something is in a lot better shape than his father was at the same age.

• We have more money. This isn't to brag, but a statement of fact. Unless you've had some bad luck, your income should be approaching its maximum. Filling up the car, while painful, doesn't seem to bankrupt you as it once did, and you're not quite so worried about whether a bottle of wine is slightly over $10. And doesn't Samoa look worth a visit?

• We know what we want. We're pretty sophisticated and we have honed our tastes and desires. We no longer have to "give it a go", and try silly things such as outdoor Shakespeare or bungee jumping, because we know they are not much fun.

• We're not socially needy. In previous decades, we were frantically running around trying to develop our circle of friends. In our 40s, we don't care much what other people think of us and we're not going to cry if our Facebook post doesn't get 100 likes. We remember life before Facebook, you see, and Twitter and the rest. With that comes a deeper knowledge of what really makes us happy and the true meaning of (real) life.

- Canvas, Telegraph